http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/columnists/tom_brodbeck/2010/11/03/15953791.html

Amber-light scam hidden

By TOM BRODBECK, Winnipeg Sun

Last Updated: November 4, 2010 7:42am

So much for openness and accountability with the city’s photo enforcement program.

Here’s yet another twist to Winnipeg’s multi-million dollar, automatic ticket dispensing scheme.

If you request copies of red-light camera tickets issued by Winnipeg police since the program began, they’ll tell you that you can’t have them. (WINNIPEG SUN) So much for openness and accountability with the city’s photo enforcement program.

Here’s yet another twist to Winnipeg’s multi-million dollar, automatic ticket dispensing scheme.

If you request copies of red-light camera tickets issued by Winnipeg police since the program began in 2004 — even with the personal information of motorists blacked out — they’ll tell you that you can’t have them, even though they should be public records.

It turns out even though police issue the tickets, they don’t own the database of tickets that have been issued.

That’s owned by ACS Public Sector Solutions, the multinational corporation that runs Winnipeg’s photo enforcement program and makes millions a year from it.

The group WiseUp Winnipeg has been trying to get access to copies of all red-light camera infractions issued by police through the province’s access laws.

They want to examine them to see what percentage of so-called red-light runners ticketed are actual violators and what portion are ticketed frivolously.

In some U.S. jurisdictions where red-light cameras were used, they discovered the vast majority of so-called red-light runners are ticketed 0.1 or 0.2 seconds after the light turns red.

Some states have mandated longer amber times which has eliminated most red-light infractions and put the photo enforcement companies that run them out of business.

In Winnipeg, amber times are set at four seconds, regardless of the speed of the roadway or the size of the intersection.

WiseUp Winnipeg wanted to research what percentage of red-light tickets are issued at 4.1 and 4.2 seconds.

But they’ve been shut out.

The tickets are owned by ACS and private companies are not subject to the province’s freedom of information laws.

“I’m not surprised that WPS refused to comply,” said WiseUp member Todd Dube, who received his denial letter from police this week. “The record will prove what we know and what the city, the WPS and ACS have always known — that between 80% and 90% of their ‘red-light running’ tickets are issued to drivers trapped one or two tenths of a second into a quick red light due to their short amber scheme.”

Each red-light ticket shows how long the amber was on when the driver entered the intersection. If most tickets show it’s less than five seconds, extending ambers could make intersection cameras unprofitable.

And we know ACS has all the data.

Dube requested copies of all infractions he received from intersection cameras. He got a database print out from ACS showing a red-light he supposedly ran in 2007 where the amber was on for 4.1 seconds.

Think about it. If you’re on an 80 km/h roadway and you’re only given four seconds to stop and you miss it by a tenth of a second, traffic from the other direction doesn’t even begin to flow by the time you’re in the intersection.

But you get a very expensive ticket anyway.

If the city extended the amber times by a second, you wouldn’t get a ticket at 4.1 seconds and the intersection would be safer.

But ACS and city bean-counters would be out millions a year in profits.

“The WPS does not have any copies of these tickets,” police spokeswoman Const. Natalie Aitken confirmed Wednesday. “ACS Public Sector Solutions has custody of these records.”

So here we have police issuing traffic tickets but the tickets themselves are owned by a for-profit, multinational corporation.

And we can’t get access to the database of those tickets because provincial access laws don’t apply to private companies.

This scam gets worse by the week.

For more, visit Brodbeck’s blog Raise a Little Hell at winnipegsun.com. Reach Tom by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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